​You may or may not be aware that for the past 3 years we have been offering programming in Wood Buffalo on behalf of 25 youth within Fort McMurray and surrounding communities. The program resonated with folks in the region, and at the end of the 20015/2016 school year we were ready to pass the program over to a local group that would continue to provide the Instruments of Change Gift of Music Program on behalf of very deserving youth.

As we all know, however, before that deadline the entire region was impacted by a devastating fire that negated our desire to hand the program off to an organization that was similarly impacted.

We couldn’t leave our participating youth and our friends after such a traumatic event, so we rolled up our sleeves and proceeded to approach local Wood Buffalo donors to encourage them to support Legacy so we could continue to help young people who more than ever needed our help. I am pleased to report that both the Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and the Red Cross through the local United Way, have financially committed to the program in support of 20 deserving youth for the remainder of 2016-17. The local Rotary has also committed funds for a 2nd year that will increase our reach to 22 youth.We are so incredibly inspired by the resilient people of Wood Buffalo - we are all well aware of how important that community is to the economic well-being of our province and our country. A large part of our future success is ensuring that young people in the community are taken care of, since they are so important to our country’s future success. We need to do what we can to help them through this very difficult time.This sentiment holds true in any community…young people who are succeeding help us all and a large part of that success comes from staying in and completing school and staying on a positive life path.As you know we are reaching out to people to help us in assisting youth in their desire to follow their dreams and to become successful and contributing adults. I appreciate that these are difficult times for people and I know that people in Calgary and Alberta are incredibly generous and concerned about the future of our province…so when you’re thinking about giving during this holiday season, please consider Legacy Gift of Music and help us give a “gift that gives for a lifetime”.Darryl Wernham, Chief Executive Officer